NEWS & MEDIA

'Shaukeen' oldies to woo hottie Bipasha in re-make

Bipasha Basu will be essaying the role of the sultry seductress who robs three old men of their senses in Rohit Roy's remake of the 1982 Basu Chatterjee hit comedy, Shaukeen.

While Bipasha steps into Rati Agnihotri's shoes in the remake, Naseeruddin Shah, Rishi Kapoor and Boman Irani will play the three older men out to have some fun with the girl on a vacation.

Rishi is said to be essaying the role played by Ashok Kumar in the original, Naseer plays A.K. Hangal's character while Boman's is based on Utpal Dutt's hilarious character from Chatterjee's film.

'Shaukeen was way ahead of its time when it released in 1982. The idea of three 60- something men getting naughty was very innovative for the audience of that era.

'Times have changed and today, the 60s have emerged as the new 40s. We are planning to tweak the story accordingly,' Rohit Roy told Mail Today.

A younger actor is being finalised to play Bipasha's love interest in the new film, a role essayed by Mithun Chakraborty in the original. Although the film will be a remake, Rohit plans to have a new title for his film. He also emphasised that his film will not be a frame-for-frame rehash of the original but suitably changed to suit GenNow tastes.

'My film will unfold as the story of three old men trying to re-discover life. They take a break from their hectic lifestyle and, in the process, end up with the brainwave of getting naughty in the company of a girl. While the core premise remains, we realised the theme of lecherous old men would seem outdated to today's audience. So, there'll changes in the screenplay will be done accordingly,' Rohit said.

While Rati played a cabaret singer in Shaukeen, Bips will also essay an ultra-glamorous role in the remake. Like Rati's character, her role too will have a certain amount of vulnerability. There were speculations that her role would be similar to the seductress she played in No Entry, but Rohit insists Bipasha will get a 'totally new avatar'.

'Bipasha was the obvious choice to play the role of the girl because she can bring in the right amount of glamour and naughtiness to the character. I am sure she will have a different interpretation of the character than what Rati did,' said Rohit, who shot to fame as a TV actor with his role in Mahesh Bhatt's soap, Swabhimaan, before playing a string of hit characters in Ekta Kapoor's K-soaps.

Rohit made his directorial debut in Sanjay Gupta's episodic 2007 venture, Dus Kahaniyaan. The remake right of Shaukeen has been purchased by producer Bunty Behl, and Basu-da reportedly is keen to see the remake.